Location: Beaufort County, 34 miles southeast of Greenville
You can find: a large live oak tree with branches hanging over the Pamlico River, great blue herons, and green tree frogs
Location: Carteret County, 39 miles southeast of New Bern
You can find: a restored 19th century-era fort, diverse barrier island habitat, and birds such as the painted bunting
Location: Wake County, 18 miles north of downtown Raleigh
At the park, you can find: 12,000-acre Falls Lake reservoir and monarch butterflies in the spring and fall
Location: Camden County, at North Carolina's northeast border with Virginia
You can find: the Great Dismal Swamp and Canal, Atlantic white cedar trees, Hessel's hairstreak
Location: Gaston County, 32 miles west of Charlotte
At the park, you can find: a wide variety of bird species from small songbirds to red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures
Location: Wayne County, 15 miles southeast of Goldsboro
You can find: the 90-foot bluffs rising above the Neuse River and eastern fox squirrels
Location: New Hanover County, 12 miles south of Wilmington
You can find: Sugarloaf Dune, Venus flytraps, brown pelicans, and river otters